Roadrunner srurprises
When I first realized the diversity of prey species my Greater Roadrunners were catching — lizards, butterflies and moths, bees, dragonflies, scorpions, grasshoppers, cockroaches, snails — and how they were catching them, I knew I had to write about them. Then, when I saw the male bring his mate a bunch of yellow wildflowers, desert bladderpod, as nesting material, I knew I had to write them up carefully to avoid rampant anthropomorphism.
Birders are well aware of the several avian families that capture prey on the wing: raptors, nightjars, and flycatchers, most notably. But roadrunners are seldom seen “on the wing,” so it is not well appreciated how aerially adept they are and how developed their beak-to-eye coordination is. I have seen my pair of roadrunners catch all of those enumerated flying insects, while the birds were off the ground, airborne. Let me explain and highlight just how athletic these “ground” cuckoos really are.
Greater Roadrunners in the central Arizona area around Phoenix are not rare, but they are certainly uncommon. Good luck trying to find one to show a visiting birder from the east. They have large territories (up to a mile in length), and their heavily streaked, dark plumage can render them nearly impossible to spot unless they’re moving. I found a pair that I was able
